The Correlation Between the Set of Mental Functions and Emotion Recognition Skills Formation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

283

Abstract

Research is devoted to revealing the relation of the complex of mental functions and their components with the ability to recognize emotions from facial expressions and with the success of learning this skill in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The set includes characteristics of the visual perception, properties of attention, properties of thinking and visual spatial analysis and synthesis. The study involved 19 children with ASD at the age of 6 to 12 years, including 2 girls and 17 boys. The training consisted of 12 sessions. Research showed that the success of emotion recognition from facial expressions in children with ASD associated with the level of development of visual spatial analysis and synthesis. It is also revealed that the success of emotion recognition training is connected with the level of development of visual spatial analysis and synthesis, abstract reasoning, and a concept formation.

General Information

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, higher mental functions, emotion recognition, visual spatial analysis and syn- thesis, abstract reasoning, concept formation

Journal rubric: Research & Diagnosis of ASD

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/autdd.2020180402

Funding. This research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities research grant No 15-36-01343

Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful for research assistance provided by K. Fedoryaka and for design of pictures of emotions created by D. Tukhvatulina, M. Kanin

For citation: Mesnyankina K.K., Sarelaynen A.I., Anishchenko S.I., Kalinin K.B. The Correlation Between the Set of Mental Functions and Emotion Recognition Skills Formation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autizm i narusheniya razvitiya = Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2020. Vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 13–22. DOI: 10.17759/autdd.2020180402. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Zabramnaya S.D., Borovik O.V. Prakticheskii material dlya provedeniya psikhologo-pedagogicheskogo obsledovaniya detei [Practical material for psychological and pedagogical examination of children]. Moscow: Publ. VLADOS, 2008. 115 cards.
  2. Drogunova A.V., Karimulina E.G. Vospriyatie emotsii po litsevoi ekspressii det'mi s rasstroistvami autisticheskogo spektra [Perception of Emotions by the Facial Expression in Children with ASD]. [Elektronnyi resurs]. Klinicheskaya i spetsial'naya psikhologiya [Clinical Psychology and Special Education], 2014, vol. 3, no. 4(In Russ.).
  3. Luriya A.R. Vysshie korkovye funktsii i ikh narusheniya pri lokal'nykh porazheniyakh mozga [Higher Cortical Functions in Humans and Their Impairments in Case of Local Brain Lesions]. 2nd ed. Moscow: Publ. Moscow State University, 1969. 504 p.
  4. Mesnyankina K.K., Sarelainen A.I., Anishchenko S.I., Kalinin K.B. Mobil'noe prilozhenie dlya formirovaniya navykov raspoznavaniya i vyrazheniya emotsii u detei s rasstroistvami autisticheskogo spektra: problemy i printsipy sozdaniya [Application For Teaching Emotion Recognition And Facial Expression Production Skills To Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Issues And Principles Of Creation]. Psikhologiya. Istoriko-kriticheskie obzory i sovremennye issledovaniya [Psychology. Historical-critical Reviews and Current Researches], 2016, vol. 5, no. 5A, pp. 138—150.
  5. Mikadze Yu.V., Skvortsov A.A. Soderzhanie ponyatii «neiropsikhologicheskii faktor» i «sindrom» v kontekste metoda sindromnogo analiza A.R. Lurii [The meaning of the concepts of “neuropsychological factor” and “syndrome” in the context of Luria's syndrome analysis]. Voprosy psikhologii [Issues of psychology], 2014, no. 4, pp. 60—71.
  6. Pereverzeva D.S., Gorbachevskaya N.L. Osobennosti zritel'nogo vospriyatiya u detei s rasstroistvami autisticheskogo spektra [Peculiarities of visual perception in children with autism spectrum disorders]. Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psikhologiya [Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology], 2013, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 130—142.
  7. Semago N.Ya., Semago M.M. Diagnosticheskii al'bom dlya otsenki poznavatel'noi deyatel'nosti [Diagnostic album for assessing cognitive activity]. Moscow: Publ. ARKTI, 2017. 66 p. ISBN 978-5-89415-983-6.
  8. Adolphs R. Recognizing emotion from facial expressions: psychological and neurological mechanisms. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 2002, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21—62. DOI:10.1177/1534582302001001003
  9. Anishchenko S. et al. Mobile Tutoring System in Facial Expression Perception and Production for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In Imai F. et al. (eds.) Proceedings of the 12th International Joint Conference on Computer Vision, Imaging and Computer Graphics Theory and Applications: Vol. 5. Porto, 2017. Pp. 319—324. ISBN 978-989-758-226-4. DOI:10.5220/0006146003190324
  10. Berggren S. et al. Emotion recognition training in autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review of challenges related to generalizability. Developmental Neurorehabilitiation, 2018, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 141—154. DOI:10.1080/17518423.2017.13 05004
  11. Brewer R. et al. Face perception in autism spectrum disorder: Modulation of holistic processing by facial emotion. Cognition, 2019, vol. 193, article no. 104016. DOI:10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104016
  12. Ekman P., Rosenberg E.L. What the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). New York: Publ. Oxford University Press, 1999. 512 p. ISBN 0-1951-0447-1.
  13. Ekman P. et al. Facial Action Coding System: the Manual. Salt Lake City: Publ. A Human Face, 2002. 1 CD-ROM. ISBN 978-0-93183501-8.
  14. Ewing L. et al. Atypical information-use in children with autism spectrum disorder during judgments of child and adult face identity. Developmental Neuropsychology, 2018, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 370—384. DOI:10.1080/87565641.2018.1449846
  15. Golan O. et al. Enhancing emotion recognition in children with autism spectrum conditions: an intervention using animated vehicles with real emotional faces. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2010, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 269— 279. DOI:10.1007/s10803-009-0862-9
  16. Geurts H.M. et al. The paradox of cognitive flexibility in autism // Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2009. Vol. 13. № 2. P.  74—82. DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2008.11.006
  17. Gonzalez-Gadea M.L. et al. Emotion recognition and cognitive empathy deficits in adolescent offenders revealed by context-sensitive tasks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2014, vol. 8, p. 850. DOI:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00850
  18. Grynszpan O. et al. Innovative technology-based interventions for autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 2014, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 346—361.  DOI:10.1177/1362361313476767
  19. Harms M. et al. Facial Emotion Recognition in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Review of Behavioral and Neuroimaging Studies. Neuropsychology review, 2010, vol. 20, pp. 290—322. DOI:10.1007/s11065-010-9138-6
  20. Kovach C.K., Adolphs R. Investigating attention in complex visual search. Vision Research, 2015, vol. 116 Part B, pp. 127— 141. DOI:10.1016/j.visres.2014.11.011
  21. Klin A. et al. Visual Fixation Patterns during Viewing of Naturalistic Social Situations as Predictors of Social Competence in Individuals with Autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 2002, vol. 59, no. 9, pp. 809—816. DOI:10.1001/ archpsyc.59.9.809
  22. Lawrence K. et al. Age, gender, and puberty influence the development of facial emotion recognition. Frontiers in Psychology, 2015, vol. 6, p. 761. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00761
  23. Lee S.B. et al. Theory of mind as a mediator of reasoning and facial emotion recognition: findings from 200 healthy people. Psychiatry Investigation, 2014, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 105—111. DOI:10.4306/pi.2014.11.2.105
  24. Lozier L.M. et al. Impairments in facial affect recognition associated with autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis. Development and Psychopathology, 2014, vol. 26, no. 4 Part 1, pp. 933—945. DOI:10.1017/S0954579414000479
  25. Maurer D. et al. The many faces of configural processing. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2002, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 255—260. DOI:10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01903-4
  26. Mondloch C. et al. Developmental changes in face processing skills. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2003, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 67—84.  DOI:10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00102-4
  27. Naumann S. et al. Neurophysiological correlates of holistic face processing in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 2018, vol. 10, no. 27. DOI:10.1186/s11689-018-9244-y
  28. Olszanowski M. et al. Warsaw set of emotional facial expression pictures: a validation study of facial display photographs. Frontiers in Psychology, 2015, vol. 5, p. 1516. DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01516
  29. Petrakova A. et al. Configural face perception in childhood and adolescence: An individual differences approach. Acta Psychologica, 2018, vol. 188, pp. 148—176. DOI:10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.06.005
  30. Rump K.M. et al. The Development of Emotion Recognition in Individuals with Autism. Child Development, 2009, vol. 80, no. 5, pp. 1434—1447. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01343.x
  31. Tanaka J.W., Sung, A. The “Eye Avoidance” Hypothesis of Autism Face Processing. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2016, vol. 46, pp. 1538—1552. DOI:10.1007/s10803-013-1976-7
  32. Tang J. et al. Face Recognition and Visual Search Strategies in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Amending and Extending a Recent Review by Weigelt et al. PLoS One, 2015, vol. 10, no. 8, article no. e0134439. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0134439
  33. Uljarevic M. et al. Recognition of emotions in autism: a formal meta-analysis. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2013, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1517—1526. DOI:10.1007/s10803-012-1695-5
  34. Wallace S. et al. Face and object processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autism Research, 2008, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 43— 51. DOI:10.1002/aur.7
  35. Williams D.L. et al. Neuropsychologic functioning in children with autism: further evidence for disordered complex information-processing. Child Neuropsychology, 2006, vol. 12, no. 4—5, pp. 279—298. DOI:10.1080/09297040600681190
  36. Wolf J. M. et al. Specific impairment of face-processing abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder using the “Let's face it!” skills battery. Autism Research, 2008, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 329—340. DOI:10.1002/aur.56

Information About the Authors

Kira K. Mesnyankina, Head, Autonomous Non-Profit Organization of Professional Assistance for Children with Learning and Social Difficulties “Inoe Detstvo”, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4386-926X, e-mail: k.mesnyankina@yandex.ru

Alexandra I. Sarelaynen, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Academy of Psychology and Pedagogy, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2275-233X, e-mail: saartavalla@mail.ru

Sergey I. Anishchenko, PhD, Research Associate, Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4010-0650, e-mail: sergey.anishenko@gmail.com

Konstantin B. Kalinin, Research Associate, Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8187-5607, e-mail: koster-mobile@mail.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 741
Previous month: 19
Current month: 2

Downloads

Total: 283
Previous month: 4
Current month: 1